The Kyle Shepherd Trio. Photo: Gregory Franz
Fresh off a highly acclaimed Canadian tour in June, the Kyle Shepherd Trio will embark on a Southern African tour this month that will see them perform in Mozambique, Botswana and in major cities across South Africa, including Durban, Johannesburg, East London and Cape Town. Continue reading
On August 1 and 2, 1600 participants from all corners of South Africa as well as Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland will be gathering at the annual Education Africa International Marimba and Steelpan Festival, which will take place at the beautiful St Benedict’s College, Harcus Road, Bedfordview, Gauteng. Continue reading
After almost 18 months of renovations, The Market Theatre is reopening its Laager Theatre with productions created by Can Themba and Barney Simon. Continue reading
AFAI will host a public debate on heritage symbols in post-colonial contexts, titled How do we interpret and manage living history in South Africa?’ on Monday, June 29 at 5.30 pm at the District Six Museum.
Panelists include Gcobani Sipoyo from the South African Heritage Resource Agency (SAHRA), Dr Ashraf Jamal from CPUT, Mohammed Shabangu from the Open Stellenbosch Collective and Brian Kamanzi from the Rhodes Must Fall movement (UCT). The debate will be chaired by the D6M Director Bonita Bennet.
The recent removal of a statue of Cecil John Rhodes on the University of Cape Town’s Upper Campus stimulated vociferous debate on social media, public fora, seminar rooms and informal spaces around the country.
While much of the debate was about the structural racism that still defines many South African Higher Education institutions, the debate was also about heritage, collective memory and living history.
This debate seeks to tease out some of the different ways in which the ‘nation’ deals with statues and buildings that represent an oppressive past, and also articulate a complex and problematized present. In addition, the debate seeks to interrogate the ways in which, the ongoing project of transformation – both within universities and public spaces – can be dealt with in a post-colonial context.
In this way South Africa can reflect on recent events in light of how other post-colonial societies have managed the telling of history and the transformation of cultural/ heritage objects and symbols that shape a community’s consciousness (take India or Zimbabwe as examples).
The District Six Museum is at 25A Buitenkant Street, Cape Town, 8000. Please RSVP to Sophia at sophia@afai.org.za by Monday, June 29 10 am.
An exhibition entitled TWENTY: Art in the Time of Democracy featuring works by 115 artists will be presented by UJ Arts & Culture at the UJ Art Gallery from July 1 to August 5.
Gordon Froud, senior lecturer at the University of Johannesburg (FADA) and curator for this show, incorporated a broad range of works by established and emerging South African artists addressing their experiences of the first twenty years of democracy in this country.
Froud originally curated this show for the Appalachian State University Turchin Centre in North Carolina during 2014, which, on its return was exhibited at the Pretoria Art Museum. A selection from this exhibition, co-curated by Professor Karen Von Veh (UJ, FADA) will be shown at the 6th International Beijing Biennale later this year.
The artists, amongst others William Kentridge , Mary Sibande, David Goldblatt, Diane Victor, David Koloane, Kagiso Pat Mautloa, Vusi Beauchamp, Clive Van der Berg, Paul Emmanuel, Kim Berman, Roger Ballen, Matt Hindley, Marco Cianfanelli, Jodi Bieber, Manfred Zylla, Andy Robertson, Christo Doherty, Mbali Dhlamini, Bevan de Wet, Phumilani Ntuli and Jaco van Schalkwyk, comment on a wide variety of themes such as identity formation within a young democracy, resistance, human rights, land concerns, the Mandela years and HIV/Aids.
The exhibition closes on August 5.
NEED TO KNOW
OPENING SPEAKER: Avitha Sooful, Head of Division and senior lecturer, Fine Arts, University of Pretoria
WALKABOUT: Wednesday, July 22 at 1 pm; Saturday, August 1 at 10.30 am
GALLERY HOURS: Monday to Friday from 9 am to 4 pm. Closed weekends and public holidays.
LOCATION: APK Campus, Cor. Kingsway/University Road, Auckland Park
CONTACT: UJ Art Gallery: 011 559 2099 aedempsey@uj.ac.za
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